Abstract
This research studies the upper and lower limb bones of elderly persons. The measurements of compressive, tensile and bending forces were performed on 147 specimens: 72 in a compression trial, 21 in a tensile trial and 54 in a bending trial. Bones were extracted from 38 cadavers (60–70-years-old at the time of death). Experimental protocols were developed to minimise the possible errors in obtaining the data. All results were statistically processed. There was a significant difference between the results of both the tensile and bending trials and the compression trial (p = 0.08). Significant differences were observed between the results of the compression test in proximal versus distal ends of the bones (femur, tibia and humerus). After the removal of outlying results, an F-test analysis was performed on all remaining values, establishing different correlation levels between the groups of results. These results were compared with those published by other researchers.